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Further confirmation that EFB is not endemic in Scotland, and only present in a small number of colonies/apiaries. It will be interesting to see how this finding affects the current Government approach to notifiable disease management.

www.nationalbeeunit.com/assets/PDFs/...

Chocolate mining bee (Andrena scotica) community in an airbrick in central Scotland.

Happy World Bee day! What are you doing today to celebrate our wonderful pollinators?

Also bonus points to the BBC for breaking with tradition and using a solitary bee (Colletes?) instead of a bumble bee as the thumbnail for a honey bee story...

NI's honey bees: Population at risk due to no bee inspectorate NI's last full-time bee inspector retired in 2024 and the part-time inspector died shortly after.

Bee inspectors are vital to deal with notifiable diseases like foulbroods. The lack of inspection in Northern Ireland, coupled with it's new role as a major import route for European honey bees, is very concerning.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Met another commuter coming out of work this evening! @roslininstitute.bsky.social #toad #migration

RES Great Welfare Survey 2025 - Royal Entomological Society Insect Research Practices and Ethics in the UK Share Your Experience on Ethics Applications Are you a researcher working with insects? We need your insights! The Royal Entomological Society is conduct...

Researching insects? @royentsoc.bsky.social is looking for feedback on the subject of insect research practices and ethics... www.royensoc.co.uk/news/res-wel...

YouTube video by National Honey Show Jacques van Alphen The backside of selection: A forgotten cause of bee mortality

A fascinating technical talk on how selective breeding in honey bees removes rare alleles and opposes natural selection in populations. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UClh...

B4 2-day Honey Bee Symposium 2025 What's on at the University of Plymouth: B4 2-day Honey Bee Symposium 2025. Uniting science, conservation and community around sustainable solutions for...

Looking forward to presenting on the status of native honey bees at the B4 symposium this weekend! www.plymouth.ac.uk/whats-on/b4-...

Government overturns Tory measure and bans emergency use of bee-killing pesticide Emergency use of Cruiser SB, a neonicotinoid pesticide highly toxic to bees, to be outlawed in UK in line with EU

Good to see the potential for emergency use of neonics on sugar beet finally stopped. Shocking that it no action was taken for 5 years, despite expert and public opinion strongly against this use!

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Arising amitraz and pyrethroids resistance mutations in the ectoparasitic Varroa destructor mite in Canada - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Arising amitraz and pyrethroids resistance mutations in the ectoparasitic Varroa destructor mite in Canada

Varroa amitraz resistance is now established in several places in the world. With no obvious replacement 'magic bullet' treatment on the horizon, IPM techniques and work towards natural resistance are more important now than ever: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Call for Evidence - Committees - UK Parliament Animal and plant health

A Call for Evidence from the UK Parliament on issues surrounding animal and plant biosecurity in relation to imports. Plenty of knowledgeable individuals and orgs here who might want to submit evidence! (deadline 29th Jan) committees.parliament.uk/call-for-evi...

BIBBA's aim to encourage local bees and teach about breeding and selection is worthwhile - even if the ideal of a return to a native population is a complicated one! But it's hard to not be emotive and avoid confrontation on this one - beekeepers will take any opportunity to disagree! 😂

This is definitely an area which hobbyists can lead in. Most don't 'need' to use imports/Buckfast, and would benefit the most if the average quality of bees in their locality improved. Simple steps like not propping up poor
colonies and not breeding from them can make a big difference.

Many countries have (or are trying to achieve) standardised stocks - be it a local strain (e.g. Slovenia) or by selecting from existing hybrids (e.g. NZ). There an argument that the UK should do the same with local bees, rather than regularly importing but never solving the underlying problem.

The Devon study highlighted a big issue with UK mongrels - we don't have a 'standard' hybrid, and our bees range from near-native to almost no native genetics. As such breeding is a roll of the dice, and each new generation can see big behavioural changes which makes for challenging beekeeping!

A fascinating potential insight into the changes in European honey bees over the last thousand years, no doubt with some challenging DNA analysis required! tvpworld.com/83900838/wou...

Pollinator activity and flowering in agricultural weeds in Sweden The usefulness of weeds to pollinators depends partly on the temporal pattern of flowering and flight activity. We compiled citizen science data on observation of bees and hoverflies typical of agric...

Flowering weeds in arable fields actually provide a major source of forage for pollinators. Important to consider in arable crop management and weed suppression. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Distribution of honey bee mitochondrial DNA haplotypes in an Italian region where a legislative act is protecting the Apis mellifera ligustica subspecies - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Distribution of honey bee mitochondrial DNA haplotypes in an Italian region where a legislative act is protecting the Apis mellifera ligustica subspecies

An interesting paper quantifying the prevalence of different honeybee sub-species in an area with recent import restrictions. It will be interesting to see 'part 2' in the future to see if these legal protections will prove effective. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Stress drives premature hive exiting behavior that leads to death in young honey bee (Apis mellifera) workers - Biological Research Background The Western honey bee, Apis mellifera, is an economically important pollinator, as well as a tractable species for studying the behavioral intricacies of eusociality. Honey bees are current...

Pupal stress causes early premature hive exiting in honey bees, possibly due to under-developed hypopharyngeal glands. A fascinating potential explanation as to why stressors like varroa can lead to rapid colony failure! biolres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Hybridisation in Irish Honey Bees - Beebytes Beebytes has taken part in a study in Ireland looking at levels of hybridisation in the native honey bee.

Catching up on social media with a series of posts on our work in 2024... starting with our most recent work in Ireland looking at hybridisation risks to the native Irish honey bee, carried out with researchers from @uniofgalway.bsky.social beebytes.org/articles/hyb...

Hi Natasha, we'd be honoured if you'd consider including us on this excellent list!

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A great example of using DNA barcoding to identify a wide range of at-risk species in a particular environment.

Also apparently used to calm the bees when smoking beehives - not tried it though!

A very smug looking male Heather Colletes bee who's obviously been reading the insect Kama Sutra!

That's us just arrived, and seeing some familiar faces already... Looking forward to making some new connections around insects, genetics and conservation (there's never enough time for social media in the summer months!)